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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Caprese Pizza Dip & Roasted Garlic

I had a get together this weekend and I served two Italian themed appetizers that were worth sharing. The Caprese Pizza dip was a big hit. Oven roasted tomatoes line the bottom of this dip and the top is bubbling with all of the flavors of your favorite Caprese pizza.

Ingredients

1 pint grape tomatoes (2 cups halved)

1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons olive oil

2 cloves Garlic (minced)

1-8 ounce block of cream cheese (softened at room temperature)

10 ounces mozzarella cheese (shredded)

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese (grated)

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves (chopped)

Salt and pepper to taste

1/8 teaspoon dried oregano

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil . Place tomatoes halves on the baking sheet, sprinkle with 2 teaspoons olive oil and salt, then bake for 16 minutes. While tomato halves are roasting, mix softened cream cheese with mozzarella and 1/4 cup parmesan. Stir in fresh basil, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, and mix well to combine. Place the tomatoes at the bottom of the baking dish, top it with the cheese mixture. Sprinkle with remaining parmesan, sprinkle the tablespoon of olive oil on top of this. Bake for 22 minutes, or until top is golden and bubbly. Serve immediately with crackers, chips, or crusty bread.Serves 4-6

Roasted garlic is another appetizer you could use with any Italian/Mediterranean dish.

Roasting the garlic brings out the sweetness and cuts the bite out of it. You can take a knife and spread the garlic right from the bulb onto a piece of crusty bread. When cooked liked this, it is very soft and creamy. Another way to use it, would be, to remove the garlic from the bulb and mash it into a stick of room temperature butter. This would make a nice garlic butter spread.

Roasted Garlic

Ingredients

2 or more heads of garlic

2 tablespoon of olive oil for every head of garlic

Freshly ground pepper

salt

Cut off the top third of the head of garlic and remove any loose skins. Place each head in a compartment of a muffin tin and pour two tablespoons of olive oil on top of each head. Add fresh cracked pepper and salt. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake for one hour at 400 degrees. Spread on French bread.